Just wondering.
As I continue to build my layout, I keep thinking about what information/notes I should be recording that may be useful down the road. Some is pretty obvious - rolling stock inventory, track plan, overall concept, various manuals and instruction sheets.
My question is, what else should I be making notes of that will possibly help later on, when I can't remember why I did what I did. Like:
What colors did I use on this structure?What do I intend to do in this empty corner of the layout?Where did I read about this technique?What techniques do I like, and what were the steps/materials?What other information will be useful or even essential reference?
Does anyone have a system, or suggestions for organizing all this?
Or does this not really matter that much?
Everyday I look on the internet, and go through the forums, I see something that makes me think to myself, "I should bookmark this" or "I should take some notes".
If I did actually do all of that, I'd be swimming in so much information, I'd drown.
DaverWhat do I intend to do in this empty corner of the layout?
I never wanted to pin myself down, as to what I wanted to do with an area. I like to leave the thought open.
DaverWhere did I read about this technique? What techniques do I like, and what were the steps/materials?
Those two are probably the ones that will haunt you, while your searching for where you found it, and how the modeler did it.
DaverWhat other information will be useful or even essential reference?
Now comes the drowning part, just how much can you save, and index or catalogue, it so you can find it again, and use it. It kind of goes with the other two.
You'll figure out what's important to you, and how you'll keep it.
There is just so much information out there, and it changes daily. Just how much can you keep? Just how much is worth keeping?
I've been able to find, and find again, information on a project that I wanted to pursue, or contained useful information.
Mike.
My You Tube
Keep good records of your wiring or at least label it. Troubleshooting it later without this makes it a nightmare. One thing is to have a wiring code. For example my layout has a full CTC system with block protection. This requires a lot of wires, even just bus wires. My bus wire code is as follows. Green wire is main in a passing siding, Blue is siding, White is main line between siding areas, red is the general power bus and black is the Rail B. Green, Blue, white and Red are all Rail A for DCC. White and Red twisted pair is 12VDC, Yellow and white is 5VDC. I have all this on my layout drawings so when I go back to troubleshoot it, its pretty easy to tell what is what. The reason for each of the different color bus wires is because each siding/main is its own detection block. while this may be overkill on some layouts its essential for one with Block detection.
As for my feeder wire they are all red and black. Frog feeder wires are blue.
I have a library of documents and have assigned numbers to each in order to catalog them. I was somewhat forced to do this as part of building my CTC system becuase of the number of elements involved in making it functional. I have approximately 50 block detection sections, 40 signal heads, and 30 mainline turnouts. All this needs to be documented since they all have to have individual numbers. Without this documentation building the logic to control it all would be next to impossible.
I also keep extensive records of my collection for insurance reasons and so that if I make an unexpected departure from this world my family knows what I have and can more easily dispose of it (since I am the only one interested in trains, no kids yet).
I have a folder specifically in my bookmarks section in Chrome for websites that I find useful. I have a subfolder if its research (for example researching Rio Grande caboose for my resing craftsmen kits I have been building).Most of my stuff is kept electronically on my computer. I make all my diagrams, panels, documentation on the computer. I do keep a paper copy in a binder near the layout for easy reference as well.
I hope by letting you know what I do, that will give you an idea of what to do with your projects. I find it easier to document as I go rather waiting until the end because then i don't remember half of what I did.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
I'm going to make notes as I build my next layout, especially for things like ballast size and color so that I can reorder if I need to. I didn't do this on my last layout and I wish I had.
Russ
Modeling the early '50s Erie in Paterson, NJ. Here's the link to my railroad postcard collection: https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/
I labeled my turnouts from underneath, and made a corresponding diagram, so if I have an electrical problem or need to connect the frog wires to power, I know which turnout I'm dealing with.
Keeping years of magazines doesn't work for me. I very sparingly tear out articles that I think I can use and put them in a file.
Anything I see in the forum, like techniques I will want to use, or things I can't remember 10 minutes after I read about it....like which crossing goes with what # turnout, I copy to a Word file, with pictures is necessary.
Webpages, which sometimes disappear in time, I copy and paste in my MR file.
Paint, over the years various brands have come and gone and my style is mixing is by eye not by the number of drops of various colors, so no record would help.
I don't record the other things you mention. If I can't remember what I was going to model in the empty corner, I have bigger problems than that.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I never preplan anything because I plan as I go by moving the track around until I find a good idea.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
All I have done is take a ton of photos of everything in case the house burns down. One copy is at my sisters' house and the other is at the inlaws house. The inlaws are a little dysfunctional as I have often said and my FIL threw out all the backups of our home videos. Fortunately, my sister is very reliable.
Like others have said information overload can be a problem in this hobby. I have all my MRR mags and there is only one article I have ever wanted to go back and find and I can't find it. I read them cover to cover and keep them, though I don't know why as they just take up space.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
I take pictures as my layout develops. It's a great record.
I leave notes in my locomotive boxes with the dates of the last time I lubed them.
I haven't kept records of decoder CV settings for each loco, and I realize JMRI does that for us. But, I do see the value, and probably should keep a sheet in each box with the latest CV settings.
If I want to be able to reuse customized mixes of paints, I make more than I need and seal off the leftovers. I apply a piece of masking tape to the lids and give clear labels (desert mountain close, desert mountain distant, mid-ground hills forest green, etc).
Other than pictures and such simple aids, I do keep hard copies of my decoder manuals in three-ring binders, along with the three Digitrax manuals, and they're in the same cabinet as my locomotives.
I am probably an extreme example. I have papers in files: plans and various instructions, manuals etc, I have papers in binders – same general idea. I have a binder of locomotive pages with CV settings and decoder install info, remotoring etc...I have hard drives with more than 10K pictures of the layout and other train activities, I have computer files of articles, clinics and layout updates.
I also keep several notebooks for things that I want to remember – one for operations - to write stuff down that needs attention as I see it during the session, another for general documentation. The documentation notebook contains paint colors, part numbers order lists and of course to do lists...While I have some wiring diagrams, I don’t keep too many of those as my wiring usually isn’t that complex and I rarely need to go back to remember what I’ve done.
I try to label train boxes stored in the layout room and I have indexes showing what is in my unbuilt kit boxes (there are lots of these) so I can go through and find something easily.
Too much from me,
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I have an inventory database for all of my models. Besides listing where I bought it and how much I paid for it I also enter details like what color paint I used and the name and item number of aftermarket super detailed parts, couplers installed etc.
When I say what color paint I mean the makers name and number. Example Tamiya Light Gray XF-66.
My biggest one was mixing paint. I did not write down what I was doing while I was doing it.
I was painting a custom-made foam tunnel portal. I mixed white, a tan, a gray, a very small amount of black and believe it or not a drop of green. I mixed the portions of the paint together in a small pan but there was only enough to paint one portal.
The cement portal looked so incredibly real it was unbelievable. Especially the way it shadowed in the crevices. When I showed it to my wife her chin dropped to the floor and said that really looks like old aged cement..... my wife is a crafty person too.
To make a long story short, I regret not taking notes to this day. I had an incredible looking cement portal and another one that goes on the other side of the tunnel that will never match. I will never know what that color is again. You have no idea how many times I've tried to duplicate it.
What I learned from this, (hit and miss) but take notes no matter what you're doing, especially mixing paint. That one time you hit, you might want to know what you did.
TF
PS Since this, I put my paint in a dropper and count drops when I am mixing paint. I throw away a lot of paint. One day I may hit again.
RR_Mel Early on I didn’t take pictures and that was a huge mistake. After 30 some years I can’t remember how I did things. Drawings are very important to me along with labeling. Early on I didn’t keep track of paint colors, another mistake. Because I’m really into CAD drawing I do have excellent data but no pictures. “A picture is worth a thousand words” One thing that I found out too late was not keeping track of manufacturers and part numbers, very important for maintaining stuff later. I’m very poor at organizing data. I use Excel for inventory and it works very good if I remember to inter the data and in the right place. I use Word for notes and general information, my problem is remembering what I file I put what info in. As Mike said Indexing is very important. Good Luck Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I have the same problems as you, Mel. I do, however have a digital file called "Railroad Info", which has everything from layout designs, to pictures of, not only my modeling, but other's as well. I do often forget to document what I did when I scratch built a structure, for instance, or the paint colors I used. My equipment (rolling stock and motive power) roster is in there as well (on a spreadsheet), but at present not kept up to date.
My major priority right now is to get the salvagable pieces of my old layout out of storage to see what I need to get going on building the benchwork for my new one.
Interesting question and answers. I also use color codes for my wiring. Other than that, I only keep my loco and decoder instructions, labelled with the loco number and type, and note the CV changes I do. I regularly go back to them as I don't stick to a single brand (I like buying them on sale ).
For techniques, I prefer to go back to my books. At some point, I started saving electronic files on my PC, but I too was overwhelmed with sheer volume... Books are a lot more convenient. And if I can't find something, I just use Google.
As for paint, well, I have been long enough in the hobby to see brands come and go, many without perfect replacements. If I have to re-paint something, I just mix it by eye, or repaint the entire thing with a close-enough color. In most cases, the new coat is better than the initial one.
Simon
I do have a couple of files in documents, and pictures, and when I see something I'm interested in, and I can print it, and it's only a page or two, I'll print, and I have a file down in the train room I keep them in.
I have no documentation of rollong stock, etc., as I don't feel I need it. I have nothing of exceptional collector quality, it would all just go.
I am no where near over the top with logistics, paper work and documentation that a couple of the previous poster talk about. That's just too much. I'd rather build and run trains than painstakingly document them.
And if you want to see just how anal I am at keeping my work space organized, check out the pictures I posted in the thread about a new work shop.
But to each his own, and carry on the way you see you need to.